Rep. Stansbury Celebrates First Appointees to Department of Energy Foundation

May 9, 2024
Press Release

Stansbury, Luján Created Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation through Legislation

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01) celebrated the inaugural Board of Director appointees to the Department of Energy’s Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation.

The independent non-profit foundation was created through the bipartisan Partnerships for Energy Security and Innovation Act; Congresswoman Stansbury’s first piece of legislation in the House of Representatives.

“At our leading research laboratories across New Mexico and the nation, our scientists expand what is possible in science and technology every day,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01). “I am proud to have worked with New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Luján and to have the bill signed into law as part of President Biden’s CHIPS and Science Act—making way for the Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation to accelerate the commercialization of innovative technologies in energy, like next-generation batteries, low-carbon fuels, and advanced materials.”

The establishment of this critical foundation will ensure that the United States can continue to lead the transition to clean energy and innovative energy research, development, and deployment.  

Since 1959, twelve agency-related independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations have been created, which have averaged a return of $67 for every dollar in federal contributions. FESI will bring the potential for greater flexibility and efficiency to how the Department supports a broad portfolio of energy research, commercialization, coordination, and support to a variety of stakeholder groups.   

The foundation will help foster public-private partnerships, invest in companies commercializing critical energy technologies, support underrepresented groups and regions responding to DOE funding opportunities, and tackle a wide variety of systemic and distributed federal, state, and local deployment challenges. 

The board members include:  

  • The Honorable Vicky A. Bailey, Founder and CEO, Anderson Stratton Enterprises LLC.  
  • Dr. Noël Bakhtian, Director of Tech Acceleration, Bezos Earth Fund.  
  • The Honorable Miranda Ballentine 
  • The Honorable Rita Baranwal, Senior Vice President, Westinghouse Electric Company.  
  • Mike Boots, Executive Vice President, Breakthrough Energy and Former Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  
  • Dr. Mung Chiang, President and Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor, Purdue University.  
  • Noelle Laing, Chief Investment Officer, Builders Initiative, Builders Vision.  
  • The Honorable Kathleen A. McGinty, Vice President and Chief Sustainability and External Relations Officer, Johnson Controls. 
  • Tomeka McLeod, Vice President Hydrogen, US, bp. 
  • Nancy E. Pfund, Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners. 
  • Stephen Pearse, Managing Director, Yucatán Rock Ventures. 
  • Jason Walsh, Executive Director, BlueGreen Alliance.  
  • Rudolph (Rudy) Wynter, President of National Grid NY.  

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